"Half a lap more, and then we can rest," she encouraged in a whisper, leaning down and pressing Algy's hand. "Try to raise just an ounce more we've got to move fast till we find some place to hide.
She scaled the ladder with a nimbleness that no old salt could have bettered, and the straining of the ropes in her hands told her that the others were trailing her as actively as they could. Looking before she leaped, she saw that the only men visible were intent upon steering an instalment of their precious cargo down into the hold aft, and in a trice she had flashed over the rail and was standing in the shadow of the deckhouse. In a moment Algy's head topped the rail, and she beckoned him to hurry. Somehow he clambered over and got across the deck to join her, though he was dazed and swaying with cold and fatigue. Orace came hard on his heels.
"How are we all?" asked Pat.
Orace was trying to rub some of the wet off his arms and legs.
"Orl right, miss me ole woon's painin' a bit, but nuffin' ta speak uv.
"Algy?"
"F-f-frightfully sorry to b-be such a n-n-nuisance, old th-thing!" Algy's teeth were chattering like castanets. "But I'll b-b-be all right in a b-bally jiffy. I wish we could f-f-fmd the Tiger's whisky!"
The girl turned to Orace.
"Will you take charge for a minute?" she said. "I don't know enough about ships. Take us some place where we'll be fairly safe from being spotted.
"'Um," said Orace, and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "'Tain't sa thunderin' easy, onner tub this size. .. .I'll goan seef they've gotta fo'c'sle-'atch, fya don' min' settin' among the 'awsers."
She nodded.
"Carry on and be quick."
She waited, supporting Algy with one arm. She kept a sharp lookout, and her disengaged hand held Bloem's automatic, for they could not fail to be seen if anyone passed along that side of the deck. In which case the adventure was likely to terminate without further parley... , But luck was with them, and no one came, though they could hear the low voices of the men working aft, the thrum and groan of ropes and blocks and derricks, and the hum and clatter of the small winch. In a very brief space of time she saw Orace slinking back in the shadows.
"What luck?" she demanded softly.
"Didden think they'd 'ave wun," he replied "but they yav! This wy "
He led them swiftly to the bows, keeping; well down in the lee of the rail. In a short distance they were able to crouch under the bulwarks at the fo'c'sle head.
Orace turned back the tarpaulin and raised the hatch. He shone his torch down to show them the tiny compartment almost filled with coils of hawser.
" 'Tain't much," said Orace apologetically, "but it's syfe fra bit."
They got Algy down, arid Patricia followed. Orace squeezed in last, and pulled the tarpaulin over again as he lowered the hatch, so that at a casual glance it would not appear to have been tampered with.
"Cosy enough 'ere," said Orace, switching on his lamp for a moment. "Ain't much air, though, an' if ennyone spots the 'atchis undid an' battens it dahn we shall sufficate in an owrer two," he added cheerfully. "We mighter done wuss, on the 'ole. But wot's nex' on the mean-you, Miss Patricia?"
"How's Algy?"
Orace focussed the light. Where Mr.Lomas-Coper was not ashen pale he was blue, but apparently his wound had closed up in the salt water, for the bandage round his head was clean. He grinned feebly.
"I'm rather weak, but I'll be lots better when I've warmed up. I'm afraid I'm not much use as a pirate. Pat it's this blinkin' whang on the nut that's done me in.
The girl curled up against the bulkhead to give him as much room as possible to stretch out and rest.
"Orace and I will have to go out scouting in relays till you're better," she said. "We've got to find out where all the Tiger Cubs are before we move I don't suppose there'll be many aboard, but we've got to locate them all and arrange to deal with them in batches so that the rest won't know what's happening. Then there are those men you saw on the quay. Bloem and Bittle will be here, and the Tiger they're the most important and the most dangerous, and we can't afford to make any mistake about them."
"I'm fer tykin' the single ones as we meet 'em," said Orace. "I'll go fust startin' naow. An' when I git me 'ands on ennyer them blankety-blanks they'll wish they'd never bin horned. I gotta nac-count ter settle wiv this bunch o' fatherless scum."
"I've also got an account to settle," remarked Patricia quietly. "So I think I'll go first."
Orace was not a man to waste time on argument; he was also something of a strategist.
"We'll go tergether," he compromised. "I won't innerfere, but I'll be a pairer vize in the backa yer 'ed. Mr. Lomas-Coper won't 'urt 'ere alonely, will yer, sir?"
"Don't mind me, old sprout," urged Algy. "I'll tool along an' chip in as soon as I can an' I hope you'll have left the bounder who pipped me for me to clean up.''
There was really no reason for anyone staying with him, and Patricia agreed to Orace's suggestion.
They crawled out and replaced the hatch and tarpaulin cover as they had found it. Then, as they hesitated under cover of the bulwarks, Orace said:
"Mr. Templar 'ud be right they'll be thunderin' short'anded. Seemster me, there won't be no more thanna nengineer below, an' p'r'aps a cook in the galley. These motor ships is that luck-shurious yer don' 'avta be offended by more'n a nanful o' vulgar seamen. Assoomin' that, jer fmkyer c'u'd 1'y aht the pertaterstoor wile I dots the metchanic one? I wouldn't letcha go alone, 'cept I knows be ixperience that pertaterstoors ain't like ord'n'ry men."
"I'll manage all right," Patricia assured him. "Hurry up about it, and I'll meet you under that awning in front of the saloon. Then we can arrange to tackle the men who're loading the gold."
"Righ-char, miss.... Remember that companion opposyte where we come over the side? Go dahn yer mos' likely ter find the galley aft."
Orace accompanied her as far as the top of the companion, and there they separated. He had unostentatiously bagged the most ticklish job in the programme for himself; for he had already located the engine-room companion aft of the hatch where the Tiger Cubs were working, and to reach it unobserved he would have to travel most of the way hanging over the side of the ship by his fingers, returning by the same method. But this fact he did not consider it his duty to disclose.
As soon as the girl had disappeared, he climbed over the rail and let himself down out of sight. In his younger days, Orace had been able to awe recruits with displays of gymnastic prowess, and he had not yet lost the knack. He worked swiftly and smoothly along the side, and did not halt until his ears told him that he was level with the after hatch. There he paused and edged himself up till he could peep over the coaming. He saw a crate go rattling down into the hold, and then someone unseen said something, and one of the men went to the starboard rail.
"Wot's 'e sy?" queried the man at the winch.
The man at the rail passed on the inquiry, and presently was able to answer it.
"Ses three more journeys'll finish it."
"Tell 'im ter 'urry 'em all along. The Old Man's frettin' ter get orf."
The command was duly relayed, and the man at the winch spat on his hand and sent the cable swishing down for a second load.
Orace let himself down to arm's length again and went on. The Tiger Cubs were working quicker than they had anticipated, and three more journeys, with at least two, if not three, of the ship's boats on the job, wouldn't take such a long time. It was not an occasion for dawdling.